Ahhhhhh WEC is giving free stalls and they are probably gearing up for a big ol’ legal battle with USEF. USEF pissed off someone with much deeper pockets then them. There are countless examples of venues running rated shows one week, and unrated shows the next with out any problem. So that excuse doesn’t fly.
I hope USEF fires the lawyer that gave them the go ahead on this, if they even consulted one.
How so?
I had a stall for the 2 USEF weeks. I could care less about USEF for points this year as I’m taking my 4 yo jumper, I just want to have fun. And if Roby and T.J. are in charge, it will be fun. And bonus, I now have a $250 credit for each week!
I do think USEF is really putting the screws to the trainers because if you have juniors needing eq points, it’s tough. But I would not go to Fl to go to Hits, I’d just as soon stay home.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Tom S. is making payoffs to some of the USEF people to take away WEC’s dates. TS and USEF are both lacking in integrity, their only interest is money.
Based on some of what I’ve observed and heard over the years, it would not surprise me to find out that USEF and Tom S (HITS manager) had some sort of a special arrangement and that this was at least some of the driving force for the recent move on the part of USEF. I was happy to see his show management team exit my state. It was nice to see the Southern California show managers work together to get shows and venues back on line at the beginning of the summer.
The WEC management’s decision was, for better or worse, a middle finger to USEF and HITS.
According to the Chronicle post(*), the judges have to go through an unspecified recertification process, but it may be minimal.
(*) I saw it originally on the Chronicle’s Facebook, but here’s a link to it on the web.
@hairystockings, thanks for your response. The issue I see is that until the NSBA changes their rules, there isn’t much for the USEF hunter set in the NSBA class listings. The classes are all completely different and the heights not comparable.
If the goal is to offer a really nice unrated show, where the draw is the fabulous facility, competitive pricing, and nice prizes, then goal achieved!!
For those who feel they are unwelcome and priced out of USEF, this is a great solution if you are in the Ocala area. For those of us who are hours away, this would be an awfully expensive unrated show that offers no points toward our hunter breed awards.
I agree that USEF acted like complete fools, but I also can’t overlook how RISKY it was to slap a facility smack dab in the middle of Ocala where there are already three other facilities and then just expect USEF to change the rules. So many predicted this would happen. It was a huge gamble to do that.
I loved the NSBA when I showed my stock horse in HUS back in the day, and I do think they can evolve and offer the appropriate classes for hunters over time. But the WEC judges will need to be NSBA certified to judge, and will need their cards, etc… to make that happen . Money talks so I don’t see that being an issue. But then, will those judges get blacklisted from the current coup of those who hold the show licenses. What a racket this is!!!
Are they also NSBA carded? Or is this really just an unrated show being held at the same time as an NSBA show? I don’t see our usual hunter classes in the NSBA handbook and the jump heights and rules for greens are all different.
Also, think about this: all USEF hunters that are new to NSBA and are not in an existing recognized breed association, per the rules, are GREEN!!!
“69. C. Any horse that has not earned more than 25 points
in it’s respective class (ie Western Pleasure, Hunter
Under Saddle etc.) in any NSBA recognized
breed association, or more than $2,500 in earnings
in it’s respective class as of December 31,
2019.”
And green working hunters are 2’6" which is a USEF Pre-green height. Will the NSBA have to create an entirely new set of classes? There are no classes above 3’ so I don’t understand how they can just run the usual WEC shows unless the NSBA changes their rules OR they are just a big unrated show running concurrently, which is a lot less interesting.
It would be great if NSBA/WEC would issue a joint statement to clarify what the actual plan is. If it’s just a big unrated show, then why is everyone rushing to get NSBA memberships?
@atl_hunter
Some of your questions about judges, new HJ rules, and green status are in the COTH article that I linked up thread. Since it’s not super obviously a link, here it is again.
you earn $250 in stall credit if you show. Before stalls were free, you had to be in the placings to earn money
I really think you’re overthinking this a little bit—if you look at the prize list, the classes are essentially the same as we all know from USEF. They’re not changing that. Nothing about this show will be discernably different from what we already are familiar with, and that goes from classes, judging, types of horses, etc.
Also, who cares about “hunter breed awards”? Like Renn said up thread, that’s such a small subset of competitors. I live 1,000 miles away and will opt to do a few weeks there this year when my trainer doesn’t have big eq kids showing.
there is apparently an upcoming meeting to finalize HJ rules. i haven’t personally verified this, but read it on some other thread.
2’6 in usef world is Baby Green and is an unrated division. they have the new USHJA 2’6 which is rated i believe, but if you are talking about green, ushja div is usually a warm up for baby green. HITS doesn’t even hold those divisions. he has training hunter which is unrated as a warm up for baby green.
devil’s advocate, if NSBA doesn’t rate divisions above 3’ how is it different than all the unrated divisions at smaller heights at USEF shows?
Horse show management runs horse shows. not federations. Federations just provide a framework/rules. Horse show management can put on other classes they want if they meet the minimum standards of NSBA and don’t break the rules. just like usef shows have lots of unrated divisions such as baby green, pre adult, modified adult, modified amateur and the list goes on.
the prizelist that came out even with the NSBA rated shows (before this latest kerfuffle), included the ones you would get at HITS down the road.
So am I. Especially on phone. 
And they can make it.
I think they were ready to roll the dice on that.
WEC has a ton of money, they have an existing client base, they have a product that they know they can sell to that client base, they’ve probably done their homework to know whether they can sell that product to new clients and to the same clients in a new geography, and they were probably prepared to roll on with or without USEF.
Correct me if I am wrong since it was many years since I went to HITS Ocala, but none of this is about HOTY points. The best horses are at WEF anyway. Then names winning at Medal Finals and indoors are not and were never at HITS. Maybe some zone contenders? I would pick WEC in a heartbeat at HITS is always a PITA with footing issues.
if I may add onto your comments responding to them dropping a facility in the middle of several others, I offer the following:
There are not many dressage venues in Ocala. the horse park holds a couple of dates. Otherwise, during the winter you have to head towards orlando, and maybe something close to gainesville.There is a large eventing and dressage community in Ocala. that’s all incremental access for all of those people.
LOTS of people have made Ocala their full time home. WEC has A/C in their indoors and barns. Summer shows make a lot of sense there. i mean, one of the things I love about showing in Ocala is that my farm is there, so I can show and still stay at home and get the horses left at home ridden anyway.
They will host western dressage and probably other Quarter horse shows.
I sort of wish they applied for dates in Dec and April around the hits dates. Even May. I saw that Classic Company has a date in Ocala during April. I wonder if they are hosting it at Roberts. I only saw the second week of Jacksonville on the usef calendar in Jacksonville. Bob Bell’s website said info on the Ocala show is coming soon.
I’m betting that the only thing WEC wanted from NSBA was an established drug-testing protocol. The released schedule for the NSBA weeks were identical to the USEF weeks sans the Medals.
Just like USEF, NSBA offers a list of recognized divisions that they will offer awards in, but no show is limited to offering only those classes. Just like USEF recognized shows are full of classes that aren’t found anywhere in the USEF rule book.
NSBA doesn’t really need to scramble and vamp up a system to please 40,000+ target-members in a discipline they have zero experience in, they just need to get a few guidelines in place & iron-out any potential conflicts with their own rules (like Green Hunters), and let Roberts run the horse show he has plenty of experience running.
The man is not dumb. They have been wildly successful in OH, and for all the reasons HITS falls short. He is calling in those chips & I think he’s got the winning hand, but it remains to be seen where USEF will land. The optics of forcing exhibitors to chose between Roberts’ palace and Tom’s questionably safe facilities is not a good one for USEF, especially on the heels of years of vocal discontent.
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